Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Stunaep on June 17, 2003, 01:19:46 pm

Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 17, 2003, 01:19:46 pm
Recreating the original FS2 mission "The Great Hunt" in a more cinematic way (although it has some continuity errors), the movie was originally (and still is) intended to be a part of LM5. But since, this ain't exactly spoiling anything (unless you've never played FS2), you oughta see this explosion filled piece of coolness.

12 megabytes. Divx 5.0.5.

Errors: In once scene there's an invisible ship firing Shivan Lasers, the Herc II's have been replaced with Perseii and the Cain is a Rakshasha, and I've completely left out the other cruiser as not to break the pace.

(http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/lmarshal/Intro9.jpg) (//www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/lmarshal/Intro5(1).avi)
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: aldo_14 on June 17, 2003, 01:30:03 pm
Looks neat.... the image that is - don't have fast connection (56k..eep) so skipping any movies :)

how did you do the beams  - specifically, did you use a spline with VP glow (looks like red inferno IMO..not sure)

How did you do the explosions, also?  Combustion or something else?
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on June 17, 2003, 01:35:52 pm
It's at 88% downloaded, I'll give you my opinion in a few minutes.

Right. It's probably just my machine hating DivX, but the movement of the ships is a bit jumpy, and it just stops dead at about 24 seconds.:hopping:

However, what I have seen is bloody amazing! Is that the FS1 mainhall music?
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 17, 2003, 01:38:12 pm
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14
Looks neat.... the image that is - don't have fast connection (56k..eep) so skipping any movies :)

how did you do the beams  - specifically, did you use a spline with VP glow (looks like red inferno IMO..not sure)

How did you do the explosions, also?  Combustion or something else?


Beams are a cylinder with a gradient VP glow complete with Inferno.

Explosions are B5-style e.g. - Lens Flare with a Inferno set at glow, and some particles.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 17, 2003, 01:38:53 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Petrarch of the VBB

However, what I have seen is bloody amazing! Is that the FS1 mainhall music?

Close enough. It's Brief1.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on June 17, 2003, 01:43:20 pm
:D  Not far off, then.

Anyway, any idea how I can fix the playback problem?
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: an0n on June 17, 2003, 01:47:13 pm
The ships move funny. The weapons-fire from the fighters need to be faster and more violent. And the Lysander (?) should be drifting forwards as it explodes.

The Perseus pursuit sequence needs much improvement.

Basically, make the weapons work right and the ships move with more inertia and it'll be perfect.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Petrarch of the VBB on June 17, 2003, 01:47:38 pm
I've just got the latest version of DivX player, and that's fixed it.

All I can say is this:

:eek2: :eek2: :eek: :eek: :eek2: :eek2:
INCREDIBLE!

My only nitpick is that the Perseii's lasers look a bit odd, as they just seem to disappear about 10 metres in front of the ship.
Other than that, :yes: :eek2:

Plus what an0n said about movement, the Rakshasa just stops dead, rethar then decellerating.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: kasperl on June 17, 2003, 01:57:30 pm
this was really good, i actually tried to dodge some fire with my mouse.

anyway, the Prom S needs some work, but other then that, great
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: an0n on June 17, 2003, 02:01:11 pm
For the Perseus pursuit I suggest putting the Perseus on a line-path for its movement and put the camera on the same path about 'bout a half-second behind. And widen the camera's FOV.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 17, 2003, 02:03:19 pm
Quote
Originally posted by an0n
For the Perseus pursuit I suggest putting the Perseus on a line-path for its movement and put the camera on the same path about 'bout a half-second behind. And widen the camera's FOV.


Actually, I did that with the P. The camera... well yeah.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: mikhael on June 17, 2003, 09:07:38 pm
Not bad Stu.

You might want to work on the lightning, perhaps take it out of the field of view completely. One way that could look good, but wouldn't be antirely Freespace correct was to do the lightning inside the distant cloud banks. That way, there would be bright flashes, etc, but no jagged lighting  bolts visible.

Something else you might want to take into consideration is moving your camera back a bit, making it stationary and opening its FOV some. Especially in the sequence where the missiles are streaking toward their target, it begins to feel quite claustrophobic. By pulling the camera back and having it pan from a stationary position, the movement of the missiles becomes much more dynamic. If you can keep the missiles just to the right of the center of the screen, it will also add ot the illusion of speed.

Speed is my next point. The whole sequence felt kind of slow to me, like I was watching a slow motion replay of the whole scene. If you've got your rendering done at 15fps, try 30fps and see how that looks.

On the chase sequence, again, I have to say pull that camera back and open the FOV a bit. An0n nailed that one on the head. Right now, you're so close, and so tight, it feels really confused, and we don't have a real sense of what's going on.

Finally, what program are you using, and does it support an overdraw area? In lightwave, I can specify how big each frame is AND how much of that frame is actually within the camera's FOV. The overdraw allows for effects to start and take place outside of the FOV of the camera, which prevents some of the wierd edge-of-screen effects like you see on the terran beams as you pan the camera toward the shivan ships.

Most important, though, nice damn job. You did far better than I could have done, I think.
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Rictor on June 17, 2003, 09:13:11 pm
The first part rocks, the rest to good too

Some suggestions is to drastically increase the rate of fire on the fighters weapons. It doeessnt look too realistic. And make them fire in shorter birsts, 3 or 4 shots, then stop.

Basically, what mikhael said about speed. It kind of looks slow-mo to me too. Make the capital ship beems a bit smaller, it looks too huge.

Its very good, very good, really good quality there man
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Darkage on June 18, 2003, 03:40:12 am
Very good stuff dude!;)


And the rest has been said already:D
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Xelion on June 18, 2003, 04:29:55 am
:yes: :yes: :yes: excellent and astounding definitely worth a promotion ;) Keep up the good work!! :yes:
Title: Re: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: karajorma on June 18, 2003, 05:34:15 am
Quote
Originally posted by Stunaep
Errors: In once scene there's an invisible ship firing Shivan Lasers, the Herc II's have been replaced with Perseii and the Cain is a Rakshasha, and I've completely left out the other cruiser as not to break the pace.


Well it's nice to see that SOMEONE is keeping up [V]'s traditions of having mistakes in the cutscenes! All you other people are just lazy. You make your cutscenes consistant with FS canon  :hopping: No one makes any effort to put in deliberate stupid mistakes! :D

Seriously though I'll post what I thought of the movie itself in a bit once I've had a chance to play it :D
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 18, 2003, 08:12:51 am
Ah, support at last!

Next time, I'll actually play through the mission I'm animating. :p
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: J.F.K. on June 18, 2003, 08:53:55 am
Hey, this is really classy. You should do a few more missions, I'd love to see FreeSpace 2: The Movie. :)
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Ace on June 18, 2003, 01:45:11 pm
Quote
Originally posted by J.F.K.
Hey, this is really classy. You should do a few more missions, I'd love to see FreeSpace 2: The Movie. :)


Yes Feint! Parry! Reposite! would be a fun one to see, as well as Return to Babel and the SOC missions. ;)
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Rictor on June 18, 2003, 01:47:07 pm
Maybe you could try doing the animation with a classy nebula background instead of the nebula-fog. Just a personal preference
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Bri_Dog on June 18, 2003, 02:18:37 pm
Very cool Stu :yes:

It's not perfect but it's kick ass!
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: mikhael on June 18, 2003, 02:59:05 pm
You know what you need in that video, Stu? High poly models. ;) Now If you do a video that needs a Mjolnir... ;) Seriously, maybe the people with the Realization Project can help?

:D
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: vyper on June 21, 2003, 05:17:52 am
What you need Stu, is a server to host this on longer than a few days. I came to retry this download and teh file is gone. Go shove it up on swooh. :p
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Sandwich on June 22, 2003, 02:52:59 am
Quote
Originally posted by vyper
What you need Stu, is a server to host this on longer than a few days. I came to retry this download and teh file is gone. Go shove it up on swooh. :p


The file is not gone - it has been renamed. The new name is:

[q]Intro5(1).aviDO NOT HOST DOWNLOADABLE FILES HERE!!! MAIL [email protected] WITH QUESTIONS.[/q]

Stu, put this file elsewhere - FilePlanet, 3DDownloads, whatever - but let's not get our hosts upset.

(Note: that is not the exact filename of the file, as I don't want anyone downloading it any more from there.)
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Xelion on June 22, 2003, 05:52:34 am
Stealth has a really fast FTP server that u could host it on or as Sandwich said FilePlanet. :D
Title: Movie! Rendered! Explosions!
Post by: Stunaep on June 22, 2003, 08:06:49 am
Quote
Originally posted by Sandwich


The file is not gone - it has been renamed. The new name is:

[q]Intro5(1).aviDO NOT HOST DOWNLOADABLE FILES HERE!!! MAIL [email protected] WITH QUESTIONS.[/q]

Stu, put this file elsewhere - FilePlanet, 3DDownloads, whatever - but let's not get our hosts upset.

(Note: that is not the exact filename of the file, as I don't want anyone downloading it any more from there.)


easier said than done, since I ain't got not ONE ftp client on my hands right now. Mind deleting it for me?